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AJOR-GENERAL THE 
EARL OF STIRLING 



AN ESSAY IN BIOGRAPHY 

BY 

LUDWIG SCHUMACHER 

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NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS^ NEW YORK ^ MDCCCXCVII 



COPYRIGHT, 1897 
BY LUDWIG SCHUMACHER 



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CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I. Foreword ----- 5 

II. Ancestry and American Estates i i 

III. Biography (i 726-1 765) - - - 18 

IV. Biography (1765- 1783) - - 32 
V. Personality ----- 49 

VI. Bibliography - - . - 55 



M 



AJOR-GENERAL THE 
EARL OF STIRLING 



FOREWORD* 

IF it were possible to put aside our prejudices, 
and give an impartial analysis of the pleasure 
we take in those two classic fictions, ''Henry 
Esmond" and ''The Virginians," perhaps we 
should be surprised to fmd that a large measure 
of our delight is in the existence of a certain 
aristocratic element on our own shores. The 
dainty graces of a post-Elizabethan England, the 
formal etiquette of a country gentry, the artifi- 
cial elegance of the Court, a state church, all had 
a reflex in the Old Dominion. Like the Cana- 
dians of to-day, if we may take the testimony of 
Mr. Goldwin Smith, they were more English 
than the English themselves. 



Major- General 



This is readily understood when we recall the 
significance of the very term "The Old Domin- 
ion "—a compliment paid to the loyal Colony of 
Virginia for its devotion to the cause of the 
Stuarts. Richard Lee, a member of the Privy 
Council of Charles I., came to Virginia before 
the outbreak of the Civil War that eventually 
brought Charles I. to the scaffold. He and Sir 
William Berkeley remained loyal to the house 
of Stuart; and when some three hundred royal- 
ists migrated to Virginia in 1649, they united 
with them in an invitation to Prince Charles to 
come over to Virginia as ruler. On the acces- 
sion of Prince Charles as Charles II. they is- 
sued a proclamation of allegiance to him as 
"King of England, France, Scotland, Ireland, 
and Virginia.'' In recognition of its loyalty, 
Charles II. allowed Virginia to quarter its arms 
with those of England, France, Scotland, and 
Ireland, with the motto : 

En dat Virginia quintam. 



the Earl of Stirling. 7 

So the royal refugees naturally found an asy- 
lum there rather than with the stern Puritans of 
New England, after the establishment of the 
Commonwealth. "And what more prolific 
mother of nobility was there in the eigh- 
teenth century than the Old Dominion?" asks 
Shoulder, in his " History of the United States." 
A few generations of these transplanted gentry 
developed in the New World a really noble 
type, — the Conservative Patriot. Its perfect ex- 
ponent was George Washington. Nor is he a 
solitary instance. The signatures of the Decla- 
ration of Independence suggest to the genealo- 
gist the Peerage and the "Country Gentry" 
more frequently than the "Vox Populi." Their 
devotion to the mother-country, the home of 
their ancestors, was profound. Their attach- 
ment to all that is covered by the word Tradition 
was instinctive, and was a tenacious element in 
the social structure of the Colonies. 

But they were none the less good Republicans, 



8 Major- General 

as the event proved; and the Old Dominion 
gentleman was second not even to the stern 
New England Puritan when the question was 
one of the Rights of Englishmen. Nevertheless, 
the counterpart of the great forces of 1776 is 
found in the ranks of neither the Roundheads 
nor Cavaliers. It is a composite of the best ele- 
ments of each. 

Some of us are beginning to question the dic- 
tum, ''All men are created equal." The inter- 
pretation of these memorable words has been 
all too literal. When in December, 1782, the 
heartbroken George III. announced to Parlia- 
ment in a faltering voice the loss of the Ameri- 
can Colonies, and recognized their independence, 
it was quite possible there was cause for emo- 
tion this side the Atlantic as well. It was quite 
possible that in separating from England we 
broke more irreparably with the glorious tradi- 
tion of the Anglo-Saxon race than we either 
imagined or desired. It is quite possible that 



the Earl of Stirling. 



in offering a home here for all mankind we have 
lost something well worth guarding. The im- 
migration to our shores, particularly during the 
middle decades of this century, of crowds of 
illiterate emigrants of all nations and peoples, 
has again raised the question whether "a na- 
tion so conceived and so dedicated can long 
endure." 

The assimilation of these diverse elements 
within our borders has not been complete. 
The spirit of lawlessness that has now and 
again developed is something quite foreign to 
the spirit of ''Liberty" as conceived by the 
framers of the Declaration of Independence. 

From a consideration of such problems we 
turn with renewed reverence to a study of the 
conservative patriot of the last century. Of such 
was Major-General William Alexander, the Earl 
of Stirling. 

There is a certain glamour of romance attached 
to this solitary British Peer in the ranks of the 



lo Major- General 

Continental Army. True, his claim to his title 
was denied by the House of Lords; but that 
august body, as will later appear, exceeded its 
jurisdiction in pronouncing on the legitimacy of 
a Scotch peerage. 

Like the ancestors of the Virginia gentry, the 
ancestor of Major-General William Alexander, 
the Earl of Stirling, found it necessary, or at 
least wise, to find a new home across seas, 
in consequence of his devotion to the royal 
house of Stuart; for the Jacobites of 171 5 were 
the successors of the Cavaliers of 1649. Like the 
royal Charles, his grandson, the Pretender, won 
to his cause some of the best blood of Britain. 
Small wonder, then, if we find a counterpart of 
the Virginia gentleman in the New Jersey noble- 
man. 



the Earl of Stirling. 1 1 

II. 
ANCESTRY AND AMERICAN ESTATES. 

THE ancestry of Major-General William 
Alexander, the Earl of Stirling, and his 
claim to the title is a story of romantic interest. 
The house was not an ancient one, the fifth and 
last Earl of Stirling in direct descent having died 
in 1739. 

The founder of the house, Willam Alexander 
the poet ( 1 580-1640), was the friend and pet of 
James VI. of Scotland, who succeeded Elizabeth 
as James I. of England. This monarch, and 
his son and successor, Charles I., demonstrated 
their affection for the Court poet by creating him 
successively : 

Lord Alexander of Tullibrodie, 

Viscount of Canada, 

Viscount and Earl of Stirling, 

Earl of Dovan. 



12 Major- General 

Nor were these merely barren and high-sounding 
titles. Along with them came the following 
trifling gifts, by charter or letters patent, in the 
New World : 

(i) Nova Scotia. 

(2) Canada, ''including fifty leagues of 

bounds on both sides of the St. 
Lawrence River and the Great 
Lakes." 

(3) A "tract of Maine and the island of 

Stirling (Long Island), and islands 

adjacent." 
The "tract of Maine" embraced all east of the 
Kennebec River to Nova Scotia, or Acadie, and 
included Newfoundland. It was the most pro- 
digious gift ever bestowed on a subject by a 
British sovereign, and is significant of the royal 
ignorance of the value of the New World and 
the possibilities of colonization. These gifts 
were in part, however, granted in recognition 
of efforts made and expenses incurred in colo- 



the Earl of Stirling. 



nizing the New World. Yet, huge as was this 
territory, the claims were subsequently con- 
firmed or recognized by Charles I. and his suc- 
cessors. 

Along with these titles and gifts came tre- 
mendous political and administrative powers. 
Among others, he had the power of appoint- 
ing one hundred and fifty baronets, called *' Baro- 
nets of Nova Scotia," who were to take prece- 
dence of all other baronets. Under this power 
the first Earl actually created over one hundred 
baronets. Nearly fifty of the baronets of the 
Great Britain of to-day hold their titles from 
patents granted by the first Earl of Stirling. 

In 1635, "the Council for Affairs in New 
England in America" granted to William Alex- 
ander, Earl of Stirling: 

*'A11 that island or islands theretofore called 
by the name of Matawock, or Long Island, and 
thereafter to be called by the name or names of 
the Isle or Isles of Stirling." 



14 Maj or- General 

It was then within the bounds of the Ply- 
mouth Company's grant. When that Company 
surrendered its rights to the Crown, the second 
Earl of Stirling secured from it a patent for the 
"county of Canada, Long Island and adjacent 
islands," and the patent was confirmed by 
Charles I. 

When New Amsterdam was under the gov- 
ernorship of Peter Stuyvesant (1639), the Earl 
of Stirling sent an agent to America to claim the 
proprietorship of Long Island. The agent took 
possession of Shelter Island, but his claims soon 
conflicted with the Dutch, who arrested him. 
In 1647, another agent arrived, and the doughty 
Dutch Governor had him promptly arrested and 
shipped to Holland. 

The ''Remonstrance to Nieuw Nederlandt," 
addressed to the States-General in 1640, says: 

'* We shall treat of Long Island more at length 
because the English greatly hanker after it." 

In a petition to the King (Charles 11.) in 1663, 



the Earl of Stirling. 15 

Henry, third Earl of Stirling, says: ''Your peti- 
tioner's grandfather and father, and himself theyre 
heyre, have respectively enjoyed the same, and 
have at great cost planted many places on the 
Island, but of late the Dutch have intruded on 
several parts thereof." 

But no permanent colonization was effected 
under Lord Stirling's proprietorship. 

In 1663, the third Earl of Stirling sold his right 
to Long Island to James, Duke of York, when 
the latter came into possession of New York. 
The price fixed was jQ'],ooo. But the Stuarts 
were royally indifferent in the matter of debts^ 
and, nine years later, the money not being 
paid, the Duke granted in lieu the sum of 
;^300 per annum of the revenues arising from 
his province of New York. Nor was this annu- 
ity paid. In 1760, Major-General, the Earl of 
Stirling, thinking, doubtless, his title clear, and 
two other heirs to the estates of Stirling, peti- 
tioned the King, praying for payment of pur- 



1 6 Major- General 

chase money for Long Island granted to their 
ancestors. 

It was afterwards discovered and claimed by 
his descendants that the Maine grant was also 
included in the instrument of transfer, quite by 
accident. A descendant of the first Earl in the 
female line, as late as the middle of the present 
century, attempted to establish a claim to this 
country, as well as to the Canada grant. But, 
as stated above, Henry, fifth and last Earl in 
direct descent, died in 1739, childless, in full 
possession of his titles, but shorn of the Ameri- 
can estates of his ancestors. 

When Nova Scotia fell into the hands of the 
French in 1667, the British Government granted 
the Earl of Stirling ;^ 10,000 in compensation 
for loss, but the grant distinctly stated that 
it was "in nowise for quitting title to New 
Scotland." 

When, some hundred years later, the question 
of claims to American estates was inquired into 



the Earl of Stirling. 17 

by the heirs of the third Earl of Stirling, it 
was claimed that the ;£i 0,000 had never been 
paid by the Government. So vanished the vast 
American estates of the first Earl of Stirling. A 
village near the New Jersey home of the last 
Earl of the house of Stirling preserves the name. 
But the "Isle or Isles of Stirling" exist only on 
the original parchment recording the grant, for 
the "long Island" referred to in that document 
is still Long Island. 



1 8 Major-General 

III. 

BIOGRAPHY. 

(1 726-1 765.) 

THE immediate ancestor of Major-General, 
the Earl of Stirling, was James Alexander. 
He was an engineer-officer in the army of the 
Old Pretender in the Jacobite rebellion of 171 5. 
In consequence of his attachment to the house 
of Stuart, and the failure of their cause, he took 
refuge in America. Soon after his arrival he 
found employment in the office of the Secretary 
of the province of New York. A skilled mathe- 
matician and engineer, he soon received the 
appointment of Surveyor-General of both New 
York and New Jersey. He then studied law 
and was admitted to the provincial bar, and ap- 
pointed a member of the Provincial Council. 
About ten years after his arrival in America 



the Earl of Stirling. 19 

he married the widow of Samuel Provoost, who 
was engaged in the mercantile business of her 
first husband, and which she continued on her 
own account after her second marriage. James 
Alexander died in 1756, leaving a considerable 
fortune to his widow, and a large landed estate 
to be divided between one son and four daugh- 
ters. While Surveyor-General of the province 
of New Jersey he had been one of four pur- 
chasers of a tract of three thousand acres of 
land in the vicinity of and embracing the pres- 
ent village of Basking Ridge. The tract was 
sold by John Harrison, acting agent of the East 
Jersey proprietors, who had purchased it of the 
Indians in 17 17 for fifty dollars. James Alexan- 
der's share was a tract of about seven hundred 
acres to the northeast of the village, bordering 
the Passaic River. 

While the details of his life are somewhat 
meagre, he seems to have been prominent in 
his day as lawyer, statesman, politician, and 



20 Major- General 



scientist. He was, along with Dr. Franklin and 
others, one of the founders of the American 
Philosophical Society. 

William Alexander, his son, was born in New 
York in 1726. He was educated in the best 
schools of the day, and his father instructed him 
in mathematics and surveying. He first entered 
business as a clerk, then as a co-partner in his 
mother's establishment. In the course of their 
trade they took contracts to supply the King's 
troops with clothing and provisions. This led 
to his joining the Commissariat of the army. 
In this capacity he attracted the attention of the 
Commander-in-Chief, Governor Shirley, and was 
soon invited to join his staff as aide-de-camp, 
and became his Private Secretary. He served 
in this position throughout the greater part of 
the War against the French, and when Governor 
Shirley was summoned to England, in 1756, for 
trial on charge of neglect of duty, young Alex- 
ander accompanied him. His testimony in the 



the Earl of Stirling. 21 

case contributed materially to the vindication of 
the character of Governor Shirley. 

William Alexander remained in England some 
five years, during which time he presented and 
prosecuted his claim, first to the title, and then 
to a portion of the estate of Henry, last Earl of 
Stirling, who, as before stated, died in 1739. 
When his father, James Alexander, left Scot- 
land, in 1 7 16, he was known to be presumptive 
heir to the title of the Earl of Stirling. On the 
death of the latter he did not present his claim. 
Probably the circumstances under which he left 
the country prevented him from doing so, for 
Jacobitism was not yet a dead letter. Probably, 
too, the expense such a prosecution involved 
may have been an item. Possibly, also, the 
sturdy Scotchman may have imbibed some of 
the freedom of the soil, and grown indifferent to 
**a marquis, duke, and a' that." Be this as it 
may, his son was under no necessity of hesitat- 
ing under any of these probabilities, and the 



2 2 Major- General 

vigor with which he prosecuted his claim makes 
an indifference to the title improbable. 

Acting on the advice of the best counsel of 
the day, he proved his descent from an uncle 
of the first Earl of Stirling; and a jury, convened 
in Edinburgh in 1759, according to forms of law, 
declared him nearest male heir of the last de- 
ceased Earl of Stirling, according to Scotch law. 
According to the laws of Scotland, a patent of 
nobility, not expressly confined to male heirs in 
direct descent, went to collateral heirs. This 
was not the case in England, and the question 
involved was whether the laws of England in 
regard to the descent of a peer could affect a 
Scotch peerage after the union. It would seem 
not, and that therefore the matter was legally 
settled. 

He thenceforth assumed the title of Earl of 
Stirling, and was so addressed to the day of his 
death. But some of his friends urged him to 
present his claim to the House of Lords also, not 



the Earl of Stirling. 23 

as a necessary measure, but one ''more respect- 
ful" to that body. This he at first refused to 
do, arguing that the only possible jurisdiction 
the House might have in the matter was in the 
event of his election to that body as a represen- 
tative of the Scotch House of Peers. But he 
yielded his own and his attorney's judgment in 
the case, and his claim was presented to the 
House of Lords. He waited in England two 
years for their lordships to decide, and finally, 
on the death of his mother, in 1 761, he left 
England before the decision was reached. The 
following year the House took action on his and 
similar applications. Meanwhile they had is- 
sued an order prohibiting claimants from using 
titles until their claims had been acted upon and 
allowed. 

The decision on Lord Stirling's case was that 
his claim could not be allowed because he had 
failed to show that heirs in direct line were ex- 
tinct. He never prosecuted his claim further, 



24 Major- General 

nor did he comply with the order of the House 
of Lords in the matter of using the title; for 
''there was no other claimant of the title; and 
he had been acknowledged and treated, both in 
public and private, for more than two years in 
England and after his return to America, as law- 
ful possessor of the Earldom." 

The instrument appointing him Member of 
Council in June, 1760, refers to him as " William 
Alexander, Esq., claiming to be Earl of Stirling." 
Subsequently, in all formal documents, he was 
so referred to. 

Soon after his return to this country he dis- 
posed of his mother's mercantile interests, and 
began the erection of a summer residence on the 
estate at Basking Ridge, N. J. The building of 
this residence, the improvement of the estate, 
the prosecution of his public duties as Surveyor- 
General of New Jersey and Member of the Pro- 
vincial Council, occupied his energies until the 
outbreak of the Revolution. 



the Earl of Stirling. 25 

There is abundant evidence that he was a 
man of large and enlightened views on all sub- 
jects involving the mutual interests of England 
and her Colonies. While in England he had 
formed an intimate acquaintance with the Earl 
of Bute, the Earl of Shelburne, and others, with 
whom he corresponded after his return to 
America. When the Earl of Shelburne was 
appointed a member of the Board of Control of 
the Colonies, in 1763, Lord Stirling wrote him a 
friendly letter of congratulation. The following 
extracts from the letter will show both the 
soundness of his views on great economic ques- 
tions, and also a certain graceful, formal ele- 
gance in writing which belongs to past genera- 
tions. After speaking of the undeveloped re- 
sources of America, he says: 

"The making of pig-iron and the cultivation 
of hemp are two articles that want encourage- 
ment greatly. We are capable of supplying 
Great Britain with both to a large extent." 



26 Major- General 

He was one of the three original owners of 
the Hibernia (Morris County) iron mines, and in 
referring to iron-works already erected there and 
in New York he continues : 

"The making of wine also is worth the at- 
tention of the Government. I have lately im- 
ported about twenty different sorts (of vine) and 
planted two vineyards, — one in this province 
(New York), and one in New Jersey; but 1 find 
the cultivation tedious, expensive, and uncer- 
tain." 

He then concludes the letter as follows: 

*' It is in these vineyards, my Lord, and the 
clearing of a large body of rich swamp lands in 
New Jersey, and fitting it for the cultivation of 
hemp; settling a good farm in the wilderness, 
and bringing to it some of the productions and 
improvements of Europe, that are my present 
employments. They have taken place of the 
pleasures of London, and 1 sometimes persuade 
myself that this is the happier life of the two. 



the Earl of Stirling. 27 

Yet there are some hours I could wish to have 
repeated, — those in which I was honoured by 
your Lordship's conversations, which 1 shall ever 
recollect with the greatest pleasure." 

He was one of the governors of King's College, 
and when, in 1762, the Board of Governors de- 
cided to send Dr. James Jay to England to solicit 
funds for that institution, he furnished him with 
letters to several influential friends and acquain- 
tances there, among whom were Lord Ranney 
and the Earl of Bute. The latter responded 
with a generous contribution for the college. 
The petition to the King, however, seems to 
have met with no response save the barren 
honor of knighthood which his Majesty conferred 
on the bearer of the petition. 

In 1768 he gave up his city residence, and re- 
tired with his family to the Basking Ridge 
estate. He had married, before his trip to Eng- 
land, Sarah Livingston, eldest daughter of Philip 
Livingston, and sister of Governor Livingston 



28 Major-General 

of New Jersey, who succeeded Governor Frank- 
lin, the last royal governor. His two daughters, 
Lady Mary and Lady Kitty, were the admiration 
of the surrounding country. 

The estate was chiefly meadow land, but a 
gently sloping knoll near the centre of the tract 
furnished a beautiful site for the stately resi- 
dence he erected there. It was known as ''The 
Buildings." Only a fragment of the original 
residence remains, and is a part of the substantial 
farmhouse now on the same site. But it is 
said of ''The Buildings" that "this large dwell- 
ing, together with its connecting offices, stables, 
and coach-houses, were ornamented with cu- 
polas and gilded vanes, and surrounded a paved 
court or quadrangle. There was a grand hall, 
and an imposing drawing-room, with richly 
decorated walls and stuccoed ceilings." 

A Tory historian, who, of course, bore Lord 
Stirling no love, states that while living here 
"he cut a splendid figure, having brought with 



the Earl of Stirling. 29 

him from England horses, carriages, a coach- 
man, valet, butler, cook, steward, and a hair- 
dresser. Here this American nobleman lived 
the life of a gentleman of fortune; he rode a 
great coach with gilded panels, emblazoned 
with coronets and medallions, and altogether 
affected a style and splendor probably unequalled 
in the Colonies. He was a member of the 
King's Council, a Colonel in the militia, and was 
naturally the most conspicuous figure in the 
country." 

When, in February, 1777, General Greene's 
division of the Continental Army moved to 
Basking Ridge, the General's headquarters were 
at "The Buildings," where he was the guest of 
Lady Stirling and her daughter. Lady Kitty. 
The latter was married here to Colonel William 
Duer in July, 1779, which occasion was long 
remembered as a brilliant social event in central 
New jersey. 

There was a cultivated society in the neigh- 



30 Major- General 

borhood at this time. Dr. Kennedy, the pas- 
tor of the Presbyterian Church, was a culti- 
vated gentleman. Many exiles from New York 
and other places had retreated here with their 
families for safety, and "The Buildings" was 
naturally the social centre of the surrounding 
country. 

The native atmosphere was, however, colored 
by New Jersey Puritanism. In a letter to Lord 
Stirling from Robert Hunter Morris, December, 
1763, he thus concluded: 

**My compliments to Lady Stirling and Lady 
Kitty, who, I doubt not, enjoy the town and its 
amusements the better from having sung Psalmes 
at Baskenridge last summer." 

In the course of the War, Governor Livingston 
moved his family from Elizabethtown to Basking 
Ridge for safety. Here they were the guests of 
his sister. Lady Stirling. We have a glimpse of 
the domestic refinement of "The Buildings" in 
a private letter written by General Greene to Mrs. 



the Earl of Stirling. 31 

Greene, during the winter when the army was 
encamped near by. He and the members of his 
staff must have found frequent relief from the 
hardships of army life in the cultivated society 
of the Livingstons and Stirlings. "They are 
three young ladies," he writes, referring to the 
Misses Livingston and Lady Kitty Stirling, "of 
distinguished merit, sensible, polite, and easy. 
Their manners are soft and engaging ; they 
wish to see you here, and I wish it too; but I 
expect long before that happy moment to be on 
the march to Philadelphia." 



3 2 Maj or- General 



IV. 
BIOGRAPHY^ 

(1 765-1 783.) 

WHILE occupied with his various agricul- 
tural and mining experiments, Lord 
Stirling, as member of the Provincial Council, 
was summoned to consider the measures to be 
taken relative to the Stamp Act. Like many 
other men of the day, he failed to comprehend 
the stupidity of a government in enacting such a 
measure, and considered it a blunder that would 
soon be rectified, not a deliberate measure. 

In a council called by Governor Franklin, No- 
vember 6th, 1765, at Burlington, Lord Stirling 
was detained by illness at Basking Ridge. In a 
letter he sent to Governor Franklin he says: "I 
am conscious that there never was a meeting of 
the Council at a more critical conjuncture, nor one 



the Earl of Stirling. 33 

that required more prudence in deliberating and 
determining." So he sends his "sentiments" on 
the subject, advises deferring all business requir- 
ing stamped paper as long as possible, and adds: 
"Tis not unlikely the Stamp Act may be re- 
pealed," 

Governor Franklin, it will be remembered, 
was the last royal governor of New Jersey, a 
Tory, and a natural son of Benjamin Franklin. 
His appointment was unpopular. John Penn, 
son of the founder of Pennsylvania, in a letter to 
Lord Stirling refers to the appointment as an 
insult to the people of New Jersey, which he 
trusted they would resent. But notwithstanding 
the stigma on his birth he remained governor 
until the outbreak of the war. With him and 
his family Lord Stirling was on terms of inti- 
macy and friendship, which was rudely inter- 
rupted when Stirling was appointed by the 
Provincial Congress to command the First New 
Jersey Battalion. This appointment led to an 



34 Major-General 

angry correspondence, which was laid before the 
Provincial Congress by Lord StirHng in October, 

1775. 

In September, 1775, the clerk of the New 
Jersey Council notified Lord Stirling of a meet- 
ing of the Council to be held on the 15th of the 
month, and added : 

"I have it further in command from his Ex- 
cellency in Council to acquaint your Lordship 
that it is a matter of public report that you have 
accepted a commission from the Provincial 
Congress of New Jersey, appointing you Colonel 
of a regiment of militia in the county of Somer- 
set, and his Excellency requires an answer from 
your Lordship whether you have or have not 
accepted such a commission." 

Lord Stirling was unable to attend the council 
referred to, but wrote a confirmation of the 
report, in which he said : 

''This mark of confidence the people among 
whom I reside repose in me is one of the most 



the Earl of Stirling. 35 

satisfoctory, and, I think, honorable events that 
I have ever experienced. At a time when their 
dearest rights are invaded, to call me forth to 
take so important a part in their defence cannot 
but rouse the most grateful feelings of a man 
who ever has been a friend to the liberties of 
mankind." 

In a letter dated Perth Amboy, October 3d, 
1775, from Governor Franklin to the Earl of 
Dartmouth, relative to the condition of affairs in 
the Colonies, he makes the following reference 
to Lord Stirling's action: 

"The enclosed Minutes of Council will give 
your Lordship an idea of the present state of 
affairs in this Province. By them you will like- 
wise see that there is reason to believe that 
Lord Stirling, though one of his Majesty's Coun- 
cil for this Province, has accepted a Colonel's 
commission from the Provincial Congress of 
New Jersey. 1 have received a strange letter 
from him on the subject; but if he does not give 



36 Major-General 



a satisfactory answer at or before the next meet- 
ing of the Council to the question put to him by 
the Board, he will certainly be suspended from 
his seat until his Majesty's pleasure shall be 
known." 

His suspension soon followed; but when the 
Provincial Congress deposed the Governor, Lord 
Stirling arrested him, and he remained a prisoner 
on parole until the close of the war, when he 
retired to England, where he died in 18 13. 

Stirling was meanwhile organizing the first 
two battalions raised in New Jersey, and those 
who were unable to do otherwise he equipped 
at his own expense. Congress commissioned 
him as colonel, and appointed him to command 
the First New Jersey Battalion. In January, 1776, 
he boldly attacked a British man-of-war in New 
York Bay, laden with stores and provisions for 
the royal troops at Boston, and carried it into 
the port at Perth Amboy. For this bold feat he 
received one of the earliest votes of thanks from 



the Earl of Stirling. 37 

the Continental Congress, and an appointment 
as brigadier-general. 

From this period the life of Lord Stirling is 
more familiar. After Congress appointed him 
brigadier-general, he was ordered to New York. 
Here he succeeded General Lee in command, 
and immediately began to prepare the island for 
defence. He fortified the harbor, and built Forts 
Washington and Lee, on opposite sides of the 
North River, above the city. At the battle of 
Long Island he had command of a detachment 
of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware troops, 
and in attempting to cover their retreat he was 
taken prisoner. 

Washington and some of his officers watched 
the battle from a hill near by. He supposed 
Lord Stirling, seeing resistance would be use- 
less, would surrender at once. But, with a small 
detachment, he boldly attacked Cornwallis to 
engage his attention, and so cover the retreat 
of the rest of the troops. ''Good God!" cried 



38 Major-General 

Washington; '^what brave fellows I must this 
day lose!" when he recognized Lord Stirling's 
deliberate sacrifice of himself to save the army. 
''We were on the point of driving Cornwallis 
from his station/' wrote Lord Stirling after 
the battle ; "but large reinforcements arriving 
rendered it impossible to provide for more than 
safety." 

When the retreat of the main body of the 
army was secured, he surrendered himself to 
General de Heister. He was conducted on 
board the flagship of Lord Howe, where he 
remained until exchanged a few weeks later 
for Gov. Montford Brown, of Florida. 

He then rejoined the army in New Jersey, and 
when the army went into quarters in Morris- 
town, he had command of the line between the 
camp and the enemy. He was ordered to 
watch the British while Washington attacked 
the Hessians at Trenton. About this time he 
was promoted to a major-generalship. He en- 



the Earl of Stirling. 39 

gaged Cornwallis at Scotch Plains, and defeated 
his proposed attack on Middlebrook. 

He was next ordered to the Highlands, but 
called south on the appearance of the British 
fleet in the Delaware. He did good service in 
the battles of Brandywine Creek and German- 
town, and in a council of war soon after strongly 
advised attacking the British in Philadelphia. 
But this was deemed unwise, and the army 
went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. 

It was during the winter of 1777- 1778 that 
the effort to supplant the Commander-in-Chief by 
a small faction known as the ''Conway Cabal" 
became exposed. The immediate instrument of 
this exposure v/as Lord Stirling. The chief con- 
spirators were Major-General Conway, an Irish- 
French adventurer in the Continental service, 
and Generals Gates and Mifflin. 

Colonel James Wilkinson, aide-de-camp to 
General Gates, was sent to Congress (then sit- 
ting at Annapolis) to announce the success at 



40 Major- General 

Saratoga. On his way he stopped at . Lord 
Stirling's headquarters at Reading, Pa., and at 
dinner quoted General Conway's severe criti- 
cism of General Washington's conduct of the 
war in a letter to General Gates. Major Wil- 
liams, aide-de-camp to Lord Stirling, to whom 
he imparted this, communicated it to Lord 
Stirling, who, in turn, forwarded a memorandum 
of it to General Washington. In the note ac- 
companying the memorandum he wrote: ''Such 
wicked duplicity 1 shall always consider it my 
duty to detect." The subsequent history of the 
Conway Cabal, and the interesting correspond- 
ence involved, are well known. Colonel Wil- 
kinson, stung by his unenviable notoriety, swore 
that Lord Stirling ''should bleed for his con- 
duct," and resolved to send him a challenge. 
He was dissuaded from this course, and instead, 
addressed the following letter to him : 
My Lord: 
The propriety or impropriety of your com- 



the Earl of Stirling. 41 

municating to his Excellency any circum- 
stance which passed at your Lordship's board 
at Reading, I leave to be determined by your 
own feelings and the judgment of the public; 
but as the affair has eventually induced reflec- 
tions on my integrity, the sacred duty I owe my 
honour obliges me to request from your lordship's 
hand that the conversation which you have 
published passed in a private company during 
a convivial hour." 

Lord Stirling accordingly sent him the state- 
ment requested, but stated that his information 
had been given under no injunction of secrecy. 
He was severely criticised for using information 
obtained through the ''convivial indiscretion" 
of his guest; but the stakes were too high for 
ordinary rules, and the result justified his action. 

The importance of his services to the caus'e 
of the struggling Colonies at this juncture can 
scarcely be overestimated. It is not an easy 
matter to deliberately violate well-established 



42 Major- General 

rules of conduct, even for the public good; but 
that is just what Lord Stirling unhesitatingly did 
in exposing the Conway Cabal by using infor- 
mation privately given. In our apotheosis of 
Washington we have sometimes forgotten that 
his contemporaries had not the enchantment of 
distance in their judgment of him. We marvel 
at factions opposed to him in the army, and 
elsewhere. We have invested him with more 
than human attributes. As in pagan sacrifices 
it was customary to offer a snow-white ox, and 
if a spotless one could not be found the spots 
were chalked over to make it appear spotless, so 
our hero-worship has led us to do in the case 
of Washington. But the spots have been re- 
vealed, and it may have been something of a 
shock to learn that he, too, was on occasion 
the slave of passion; but on second thought 
there is an added pleasure in a new feeling oi 
kinship to a man so truly great in civil and mili- 
tary life. ^ 



the Earl of Stirling. 43 

"Woe to you when all men shall speak well 
of you." It is related that Governor John Jay 
remarked to his son in his old age that the full 
history of the Revolution was unknown save 
only to himself and John Adams. That among 
other things, there had been a most bitter party 
in Congress opposed to General Washington 
throughout the war. But as the old Congress 
sat with closed doors, only what they deemed 
safe and expedient in their proceedings reached 
the public. 

With secret factions opposed to him in the 
army and in Congress, the fortunes of the Colo- 
nies might have been transferred to far less able 
hands but for the timely services of Lord Stirling. 

At the battle of Monmouth, in June, 1778, 
Lord Stirling's division repulsed the British, and 
had a large share in retrieving the blunders of 
General Lee. In a letter written by Dr. James 
McHenry, private secretary to General Washing- 
ton, a few days after the battle, he says : 



44 Major-General 

''General Greene and Lord Stirling gave the 
most evident and unequivocal marks of great 
military worth ; their dispositions were judicious, 
their judgment good and clear, and their bravery 
always pointed and efficacious." 

After the battle, General Lee, stung by Gen- 
eral Washington's criticism, demanded a court- 
martial. The President of the court-martial was 
Lord Stirling. It sat for three weeks while the 
army was on the way to the Hudson, and finally 
declared Lee guilty of all the charges of 
(i) Disobedience of orders. 

(2) Misbehavior before the enemy. 

(3) Disrespect toward Commander-in-Chief. 
The sentence of the court, which was sus- 
tained by Congress, suspended him from his 
command for a twelvemonth. 

Though the court-martial was demanded by 
Lee, he never forgave Washington, and the 
short remainder of his life was embittered. He 
retired to his estate in Virginia '' to learn to hoe 



the Earl of Stirling. 45 

tobacco, which is the best school to form a 
consummate general." This was his parting 
fling at the Commander-in-Chief. 

When the term of his suspension expired, 
having heard that Congress purposed taking 
away his commission, he addressed an insolent 
letter to that body, which promptly brought 
about his dismissal from the service. Weary- 
ing of his life on his country estate, he retired 
to Philadelphia, where he died. Passionate and 
resentful to the last, even his will bore the im- 
press of his nature. "I desire most earnestly," 
one clause reads, "that 1 may not be buried in 
any church or churchyard, or within a mile of 
any Presbyterian or Anabaptist meeting-house; 
for, since I have resided in this country, I have 
kept so much bad company while living, that I 
do not choose to continue it when dead." 

Lord Stirling was also a member of the Court 
of Inquiry convened at Tappan, in 1778, to con- 
sider the case of Major Andre. 



46 Major-General 

In the autumn of 1778, Lord Stirling was or- 
dered to take command of the troops stationed 
in New Jersey, and watch the movements of the 
British in New York. While so occupied he 
directed an attack on the British at Powles Hook, 
for which he received the thanks of Congress. 

Fearing another invasion of New York from 
Canada, Lord Stirling was sent to Albany to 
take command of the Northern Department. 
Hearing that the British were advancing by 
way of Lake George, he repaired to Saratoga to 
meet them; but on the 2d of November, 1781, 
he heard of the surrender of Yorktown, which 
deterred the British from any further advance. 
He therefore dismissed the militia and retired to 
Albany. Ordered to the command of the army 
in New Jersey in January (1782), he repaired to 
Philadelphia, where he established his headquar- 
ters for the winter. In the following spring he 
was sent to Fishkill to preside at a Board of 
Officers, appointed by the Commander-in-Chief, 



the Earl of Stirling. 47 

to settle the rank of subalterns of the Con- 
necticut line. He was then again ordered to 
take command of the Northern Department at 
Albany. Here he was taken sick near the end 
of 1782, and died, January 13th, 1783, in the 57th 
year of his age. He was buried in the vault of 
his wife's ancestors in the old Dutch church in 
Albany, and when that was demolished his re- 
mains were removed to the '' cemetery belong- 
ing to the Episcopal church of which he was a 
member. His funeral was solemnized with mil- 
itary observances appropriate to his rank, and 
the religious rites of his communion." 

In a letter from General Washington to Lady 
Stirling, dated Newburg, 20th January, 1783, he 
writes : 
My Lady: 

Having been informed by letter from Cap- 
tain Sill of the unspeakable loss which your 
Ladyship has experienced, I feel the sincer- 
est sympathy those sorrows which 1 am sensible 



48 Major-General 

cannot be removed or effaced. For this purpose 
I would also have suggested every rational topic 
of consolation, were I not fully persuaded that 
the principles of Philosophy and Religion of 
which you are possessed had anticipated every- 
thing I could say on the subject. 

"It only remains, then, as a small but just 
tribute to the memory of Lord Stirling, to ex- 
press how deeply I share the common affliction, 
on being deprived of the public and professional 
assistance, as well as the private friendship, of 
an officer of so high rank with whom 1 have 
lived in the strictest habits of amity; and how 
much those military merits of his Lordship 
which rendered him respected in his lifetime, 
and now regretted by the whole army. It will 
doubtless be a soothing consideration, in the 
poignancy of your grief, to find that the general 
officers are going into mourning for him." 



the Earl of Stirling. 49 

V. 
PERSONALITY. 

THE impression of Lord Stirling, gathered 
from various sources relating directly or 
indirectly to the subject, is that of a man pos- 
sessing a personality both marked and unique. 
The dominant note in his character was a pas- 
sionate love of justice. His political views were 
definite and distinct; his principles lofty and 
unswerving; his character generous, impulsive, 
and fearless. Having prosecuted and proven the 
claim to his title with much difficulty and ex- 
pense, he evidently valued it for its own sake. 
Moreover, he was accustomed to the dignity and 
prestige of the rank by a three years' residence 
in England. It is not strange, therefore, that he 
clung to his' honors somewhat tenaciously. 

While it is easy to conclude that his determi- 
nation to hold his title was due to personal 



5© Major- General 

vanity, it is more in accord with the tenor of 
his life to attribute it to that clear sense of justice 
which led him to expose the Conway Cabal at 
the sacrifice of merely conventional rules of pro- 
priety and honor. It was his well-known sense 
of justice that led to his appointment as President 
of the court-martial that tried General Lee, and 
which gave him a voice in the court of inquiry 
to consider the case of the lamented Major 
Andre. The courage, dash, resolution of the 
true soldier were all his in full measure. These 
characteristics were in evidence throughout his 
public career from the passage of the Stamp 
Act to the day of his death, when the war was 
practically over, with the dawn of peace already 
breaking. 

The following story is told of his Lordship, 
and has a significance aside from its humor: 

*'The laugh occasionally went round at his 
expense," writes Mrs. Lamb in a ''History of 
the City of New York," "on account of his sup- 



the Earl of Stirling. 51 

posed ambition to the title of Lordship. The 
story was told how, at the execution of a 
soldier for desertion, the poor criminal called 
out, 'Lord, have mercy on me!' And Lord 
Stirling replied with warmth, * I won't, you ras- 
cal! I won't have mercy on you.'" 

How his claim to the title would have ad- 
justed itself under the new Constitution in 1789, 
had he lived so long, is a matter of curious spec- 
ulation. Under a Constitution which recognized 
no privileged class, and forbade any person 
holding office under the government accepting 
"any present, emolument, office, or title of any 
kind whatever" just what would be the status 
of ''the Earl of Stirling" ? Officially, he would 
presumably be Major-General William Alexan- 
der; but in social life would he continue to 
enjoy the distinction incident to the title under 
the Old Regime.^ It is said that the claim of 
the Rev. Bryan Fairfax, of Virginia, eighth baron 
of the name, was recognized by the House of 



52 Maj or- General 

Lords as late as 1800, though he never asserted 
it. But dearly as Lord Stirling clung to the 
*'husk of a title," no man with his record could 
hesitate in a choice of allegiance between his 
Majesty, the King of England, and their Majesty, 
the People of the United States. 

In personal appearance he was distinctly im- 
pressive. The author above quoted says further, 
he was " of fine presence, and (of) the most 
martial appearance of any general in the army 
save Washington himself; was quick-witted, 
intelligent, far-seeing, and vociferous among his 
troops; . . . (his) example was a perpetual 
source of strength and inspiration; the troops 
were proud of his martial appearance, and 
boastfully compared his courtly dignity with the 
brusque mannerism of many foreign generals. 
. . . He had, moreover, considerable military 
schooling, but his special forte, so far as devel- 
oped, lay rather in engineering and planning of 
fortifications than in the conduct of great battles." 



the Earl of Stirling. 53 

"A man can live in the world's memory only 
by what he has done for the world," wrote 
Chateaubriand. The claim of the last Earl of 
Stirling to the world's memory is not based 
solely on the picturesque paradox of a nobleman 
with a passionate fondness for a title second 
only to a passionate love of Liberty; nor yet to 
his distinguished ancestry ; nor yet to the inter- 
esting subject of the American estates granted 
to the first Earl of Stirling, and the question of 
claims and titles thereto. These claims seem 
rather to have obscured than enhanced his fame. 

*' We, of the Western world, are told to scorn 
The hereditary reign and rule of kings ; 
Thrones, we have learned, are mediaeval 

things, 
And Princes like ourselves are darkly born 
To fate less often halcyon than forlorn." 

Whatever vanity Lord Stirling may have felt 
for his rank and title as a peer of the realms of 



54 Major- General 

his Majesty, George III., it was unhesitatingly 
sacrificed on the higher altar of Civil Liberty. 
This alone, when accompanied by his substan- 
tial influence in the struggle which gave birth 
to the dominant nation of the New World, en- 
titles him to ''a decent respect (in) the opinions 
of mankind." 



the Earl of Stirling. 55 



VI. 
BBLIOGRAPHY. 

THE following are the chief sources of the 
materials used in the preparation of the 
foregoing monograph : 

Life and Letters of Lord Stirling, by his grand- 
son, William Alexander Duer, N. J. Histor- 
ical Society, 1847. 

The Stirling Peerage, comprising an account of 
the resumption of the title by the present 
Earl of Stirling. London, printed by J. & 
C. Adlard, Bartholomew Close, 1826. 

Vindication of the Rights and Titles, Political 
and Territorial, of Alexander, Earl of Stirling 
and Dovan and Lord Proprietor of Canada 
and Nova Scotia, by John L. Hayes, Coun- 



56 Major- General 

sellor-at-Law, Washington. Gideon & Co., 
Printers, 1853. 

Trial of Lord Stirling, being Part II. of above. 
Do. 

New Jersey Archives, Vols. IX., X. 

Early Long Island, by Mary Bocke'e Flint, 1896. 

History of the City of New York, by Martha 
j. Lamb. 

History of the United States, by William 
Cullen Bryant. 

Field Book of the Revolution, by Benson J. 
Lossing. 

Life of Washington, by Washington Irving. 

The Story of an Old Farm, by Andrew D. 
Melick, 1889. 

Tuttle's History of Morris County. 



the Earl of Stirling. 57 

The North American Review, Vol. LXIV. 
The Princeton Review, Vol. XIX. 
Original Letters and Documents, etc. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




